Understanding
by Kanae Valentine
Summary: Sometimes, she just feels so alone... [Depending upon my inspiration, or lack thereof, this may be a series of one-shots. If so, the title may change.]


**Understanding**

Contrary to what many people think, she does not truly dislike interacting with people. She does not think herself too smart to be bothered with people. She does not consider herself above them due to her (tested) above-average intelligence. It is quite the opposite in fact.

She feels as though _she _is beneath _them_, as though _they_ are the superiors ones, because, for whatever reason, she does not easily interract with people and they do. She does not easily speak with them. People are like puzzles to her. Puzzles that she does not and cannot _really_ understand.

Certainly, she can watch them from a distance, construct little ideas of who they are from the idiosyncrasies that every human being possesses. Sometimes, she can even determine the relationships between people and how they feel just by watching them.

But _always _from afar.

It is not that she is anti-social. She loves people. She loves watching them , even listening to them, but for some reason... Speaking to them is another matter entirely...

Anytime she attempts to actually speak with people, her heart starts racing and she feels as though someone is sitting on her chest, restricting her breathing. She feels so terrifiedly uncertain of what to say, of how to act.

And then she starts stuttering...

Which only serves to make her heart thud even more rapidly and painfully, her chest and throat to further constrict, and her face to turn a rather unhealthy shade of reddish-purple...

And people stare...

Which causes her to stutter even worse...

And the cycle is a continuous one that eventually ends with her finding an excuse to run from the room.

Perhaps that is why she is so amazed because _he _does not stare at her when she stutters. He does not act as though she is a bother to keep around either; he even hires her as his secretary.

At first, speaking to him is as awkward and uncomfortable as it is with anyone else, but not much time passes before it is not...

She suspects part of this should be attributed to his patience and kind-heartedness. Beyond that, though, there is just something about him.

He _seems_ to have no problem with speaking to other people, no problem with standing up and giving orders, and he certainly has no problem with being the center of attention occasionally, he _is_ the leader of the WRO, after all...

Yet, almost anytime she sees him, he willingly gravitates toward the background of whatever is happening. This is not to say that he entirely removes himself, but rather that he is always doing something on his own that just so happens to coincide with what everyone else is doing, and for the most part, people seem to pay him no mind...

She does, of course, and has since the days in the library.

In speaking with him-more and more frequently and with fewer and fewer problems-she realizes that his intelligence level must be even higher than hers, must be higher than most people could even imagine. His ability to learn and work with nearly every type of machinery that has ever been invented, his staggering architectural knowledge, his constant flow of ideas on how to make the world a better place.

He is utterly _brilliant_.

In him she finds someone who understands. Though he is far more intelligent and he has no dirth of people skills, he _does_ seem to understand her problem with talking to people. He is more than simply patient with her; he is also supportive.

He tries to encourage her to step outside of her comfort zone, to speak to people regardless of the recurring panic in an effort to overcome the issue, and he is there to be a comforting presence whenever she does decide to take his advice.

And those times when she speaks to people and the panic sets in... When she thinks she may just flee the room, his hand envelopes her much smaller one or his arm encircles her waist and he murmurs a quiet 'Lyra, relax', which calms her enough that she wonders if maybe dealing with people isn't quite so bad...

As long as one of those people happens to be Reeve Tuesti.


End file.
